What do you think about jetBlue flying to HNL with their A320s from any of their west coast bases in OAK, LGB, or SEA? Wouldn't it force the majors into a fare war (assuming the A320s get its ETOPS rating)?

"The best use of your life will be to so live your life, that the use of your life will outlive your life" -- D Severn

Jet Blue if permission will mint $$$ from serving HNL nonstop from SEA, LGB and OAK. Their leather seats + live tv are a big bonus + v v cheap fares compared to the other US majors.

What would be really wise for them is to use the same aircraft from JFK to SEA, LGB & OAK, make it stop there for 35-50 mins and then continue on to HNL. In this way they can grab a marketshare of the NYC NJ area market that flies to HNL as this schedule and routing would prove to be very convienient.

Does any airline fly nonstop from JFK or EWR, BOS, IAD to HNL? CO if it doesnt, should on its B 762 ER which has the range capability as does their 764s out of EWR.

Even UAL and AA can fly nonstop out of JFK and BOS using their B 763ERs.

If they were ETOPs rated it would need at least a 90 min turn time to accomplish all the items prior to the ETOPs flight. Hence unlikely that an A320 would fly JFK-West Coast-HNL with a 35-50 min stop.

Additionally, The market to me would not seem to make sense for Jet Blue when other markets are more lucrative and existing markets need more service.

Finally, As there is a dead zone on DirecTv between JFK and SJU that affects Jet Blue so there is on the Western Coast as well. Enough said...

i've heard about the directtv dead zone, although when my friends flew jetblue from jfk to sjn they did not experience it. if it does occur, flying over the pacific to hnl or another hawaiian location is probably the place in which it will happen.

i would not be so quick to dismiss jetblue in hnl. the hawaiian market is still a high-priced market , and with the exception of ata, no lower-cost carriers have broken in. as evidence that there is plenty of demand there, look at recent news: delta added a flight from atl, alaska announced that it would like to serve hawaii, northwest added service, ata added service.

i'm sure jetblue has plenty of cities on its list ahead of hnl, but it would not surprise me if they announced a flight there in the next year or two.

I guess I'm skeptical because neither US Airways nor America West serve Honolulu. Both of them are A320 operators, but they've yet to show interest in ETOPS-equipping their fleets for Hawaiian service.

My understanding is that jetBlue wants to expand service within existing markets--increasing frequencies and connecting unlinked city pairs within its system.

Furthermore, the arrival of Embraer jets will probably keep jetBlue more interested in shorthaul markets.

again, i disagree. david neeleman said himself when they announced the order for the erj-190s that the new regional jets will allow the company to expand into smaller markets with the erj's, while allowing jetblue to use its a-320s on higher-demand longer markets. if anything, the erj's would aide jetblue if it is aiming at hnl.

also, to mention us airways or america west would be a mistake. the whole point with jetblue is that it is so vastly different from those and other carriers. using them as comparisons to speculate about future routes is not effective.

i think we should look at jetblue's success with its san juan operations. granted, puerto rico and hawaii are vastly different, but here we have a destination not routinely served by discount carriers, that is out of the way so to speak (in that sjn has primarily o & d traffic), and is primarily a vacation and not business market. hawaii, again very different, does have some similarities. if i were part of jetblue's management, i would keep an eye on sjn, and also on ata's operations in hawaii.

I think that JetBlue, for now, will leave flying to Hawaii to other carriers; as mentioned, while the A320s could fly LGB-HNL (or to other Hawaiian airports), JetBlue's aircraft are not ETOPS and I do not imagine that JetBlue would "dedicate" 2 or 3 aircraft to a particular route, that is NOT part of their business plan. Also, there is a lot of competition in the California-Hawaii market, with Aloha (with 73Gs) and others opening smaller routes which give the passenger much more choice....there are now nonstop flights from regional airports in the LA area to Kona, Maui, etc, something unavailable a couple of years ago. And, isn't JetBlue limited to 22 flights per day out of the LGB mini-hub; I dont think that JetBlue wants to use those limited slots for high-competition Hawaiian services and at OAK, Aloha is already in the market with ATA covering the low-fare Hawaii service out of SFO.

Another thing that will probably prevent us from flying to LGB to HNL.....

It's and expensive airport on which to operate. As a budget minded carrier, it is wise to save up some money FIRST, and then see if HNL is a good idea. We have other cities in mind I'm sure. (For example, ORD, BOS area, DFW... All the ones rumored here on Airliners.net!) Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see JetBlue to Hawaii, but that idea is probably 5-7 years down the road.

ConcordeBoy,
I know that HP never made it to NGO successfully, I watched the ex-KLM aircraft leave AMS. But this tread is about JetBlue to HNL.
If you click the link and then Flight Info(r)mation, which was merely a sidestep, YOU will see what I mean.
On Aug 02, 2003, from 05:40 to midnight 12 Japanese aircraft landed at Honolulu airport. This means that more Japanese aircraft landed in Honolulu on Aug 02, 2003, then on Dec 07, 1941.

Well, America West tried and failed in Hawaii (as well as Japan, for that matter)

What I read here is that Japan failed in Hawaii, with no date mentioned, please correct me if I'm wrong

You guys are right about ATA being the only low-cost flying to HNL on a scheduled basis. But a portion of the seats are reserved for tour groups (Pleasant Hawaiian), so not much of their seats on the 753s are for the flying public. As for Aloha, their fares to SNA, OAK, and Burbank are not cheap.

"The best use of your life will be to so live your life, that the use of your life will outlive your life" -- D Severn

I think some people make too much of a big deal about having 26 channels of directtv on a flight. We have direct tv, and have about 700 channels, and most of the time there is nothing to watch, so with 26 it is going to be even harder. I think it is good that they have it as opposed to nothing, but it is more gimmick than anything. That said, they are a good airline, and shouldn't need that as their major selling point

Both DirecTV and Dish Network are available to residents on the ground in Hawaii... albeit a smaller package because one of the satellites isn't viewable. I'd assume jetBlue would be able to offer something.

Guess what folks?? 4 days ago one of my fellow co-workers was flying across from Hawaii to Burbank when he heard JETBLUE talking on the freq. -- Everyone out there was asking what they were doing and the pilot responded......."Right now we're doing 3 flights a week to Maui, soon to be 5 out of Long Beach." --- unfortunately one of the major airlines that was crossing (I won't mention who it was, but i'll let you guess) made a smart remark to JetBlue regarding the fact that they are non-union.... and that was it....no more info from Jetblue. But, it's obvious they are going through either ETOPS certification process, or proving runs....Something is going on, and yes....It was surely JETBLUE.